Stalker
by redambition
Summary: Rachel Berry couldn't possibly have a stalker. Sure she was a soon to be star, but no one would be stalking her now, watching her every move. At least that's what she thought. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee._**

* * *

Rachel Berry knew she was a star, she realized this from a very young age. Her talent always shined and she had no problem showering people in her gifts. She had been claiming her future stardom since she was able to talk. So when Jacob Ben Israel followed her through the halls wanting an interview for the school paper it was simply preparing her for her future, maybe she would thank him one day. She had said herself that she looked forward to the day when she attacked the paparazzi for hounding her; it was all something to look forward to. But the note clutched in her small hand, the fifth and most disturbing one she's received in the last two weeks was really making her rethink those things.

The first note she received was stuck in her locker last week. "Have a good day my beautiful, I'll be watching you." Obviously she assumed it was Finn, being sweet if slightly overprotective. When she reached him at glee rehearsal her suspicions were shot down.

"Thank you for the semi-sweet note Finn, but next time I'd go for a tad more romance and flattery" she said, sitting next to him and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"What note Rachel, I haven't written any notes? Last time I did you just gave it back to me with all kinds of red lines and extra stuff on it."

Well if Finn didn't leave it, who did? None of the other glee club members would have left it. The girls in the club didn't care enough, Kurt and Blaine weren't the type to prank her, and Puck well she doubted he could have written it, surely if Puck wrote it she would have had to edit it like she had Finn's last love letter. It was in her nature to obsess over the matter until she found out who wrote the mysterious note, but they really needed to focus on Nationals so Rachel stuck the matter to the back of her mind, it was silly after all.

After that day, Rachel found a few more notes in her locker informing her of how beautiful she was, that she had good taste in the lunch she brought with her to school, and as always the promise that they were watching her. Rachel kept the notes to herself, knowing that Finn would freak out if he knew she was still receiving them, Finn has quite the temper. Too, she's hoping that if it is one of her friends, that her not mentioning the notes will coax them into revealing themselves, Rachel Berry always has a plan. But it's not like the notes have caused her any real problems, they're not really that creepy, just unwanted attention. Nothing she can't handle.

Until today, when she reaches her front door and spots the small pink envelope stuck underneath the frame. Reaching down to pick up the pink paper, and noticing her name on the front she stuffs it in her pocket and goes inside closing the door and locking it tight. Rachel's heart beat picks up speed as the implications flood her mind. Is this another note from the same person? They know where she lives? When did they leave it? Why would they go to her house, she thought it was only at school that they saw her? The seriousness of the situation finally hit Rachel when she opened the envelope revealing photos of her from school, in the lunchroom, walking Finn to the football field, and finally a picture of her closing her front door this morning on her way out to Finn's truck. A single piece of paper was at the end of the photos reading "I told you I'd be watching" with a smiley face that somehow managed to be sinister.

Rachel Berry had a stalker.

She had a stalker that obviously knew where she lived, and had been in her yard this very morning. She quickly grabbed the phone out of her pocket dialing the first person she thought of and backed herself against the door for stability, the room was starting to spin a little bit.

"Finn, I need you now." She whispered, just as she felt the door handle start to shake against her back.

**_Dun Dun Dun! I've always really wanted to try a thrilling stalker story, so i hope it came out descent! Reviews and Criticisms welcomed as always!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.**_

_**Thanks for all the interest and reviews so far, hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

It was all over. The stalker was here to have his way with her, Oh God how would she live through that? Maybe she wouldn't, maybe he was here to kill her. Where was her rape whistle when she needed it!

"Rachel? Rach, are you going to let me in?" She heard Finn's voice through both the phone against her ear _and _the door.

"Finn?" She threw the door open to reveal none other than her boyfriend, his eyebrows quirked up in confusion. "Oh thank God it's you! Come in, hurry." Rachel tugged on her giant of a boyfriends arm, managing to get him over the frame before shutting the door again and peeping through the eyehole to make sure he wasn't being followed. Turning around to face him, Rachel felt the stress begin to dissipate from her body. In spite of the anxious look on his face at her antics, she felt safe, protected.

"Rach, you know that I love you because and in spite of all your crazy, but you're worrying me. What's going on?"

"I'm going to overlook the first part of that comment, and focus on the sweet concerned part. I was having a bit of a meltdown before you showed up because, wait…what are you doing here? Don't you have football practice? If I'd known it was cancelled I would've rode home with you instead of Kurt."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck, finally pulling out a very familiar yellow cardigan sweater from behind him. "Yeah, I do but, I, uh realized that you left this in my truck. I know how cold you get in first period and I didn't want you to miss it in the morning."

He really was just too sweet sometimes. "Finn, I really appreciate that but I have other sweaters, a few too many according to Kurt. You shouldn't be skipping practice for me." She smiled, reaching to take the sweater from his hands.

"Its fine really, I actually just wanted to see you too. Make sure you were ok and stuff." There was something in his eyes Rachel couldn't quite place, and she was an expert on Finn's eyes. She was interrupted before she could investigate. "Besides, if I'm not mistaken you had literally just called to tell me that you needed me, and here I am. What's up?"

God, how did she get so caught up in Finn that she completely forgot her near death experience? Alright, so maybe she was being a little bit dramatic. It wasn't a near death experience at all; it turned out to be her own knight in shining armor there for her when he didn't even realize she needed him. Maybe that's what this whole situation was, just more of Rachel Berry's 'crazy' as Finn had so eloquently put it. The notes she had received really weren't that crazy, or life threatening. And the pictures she had found, well they were all innocent pictures. It wasn't like they were taken of her indecently, or in a compromising situation of some sort. She was letting the situation get to her, blowing it completely out of proportion, it was so very her, and it had to stop.

She looked up into Finn's face and again saw the anxiety plainly written. He really had stuck with her through so many dramatic spells, each and every time he had her back and she loved him so much for it. That's why she felt so safe with Finn. She knew that he loved her, and she knew that if she opened her big, talented, and dramatically inclined mouth, it would be Finn's mission to find whoever was toying with her and go Bravehart on them. While there was a certain appeal to that thought, she knew she couldn't do it. She didn't want to needlessly worry him, and she certainly didn't want to see him get into any trouble over nothing. So she would keep the whole thing to herself. It was bound to blow over eventually anyway, and she knew that she would be enough of a pain with Nationals right around the corner. So she did something she had said she wouldn't do, she lied to Finn.

"Oh! Right, well you know auditions for the duet in the Nationals number are coming up and I really wanted to practice. You know I don't sleep on my competition, Blaine and Kurt have been going at it nonstop and we should too…" she stopped, realizing from the laugh Finn was trying to hold in, the double meaning her words held. "I, um, I didn't mean. I was merely saying that…"

"I know what you meant Rach, let's go upstairs and _practice" _he teased, playfully nudging her in the side.

In spite of rolling her eyes at her boyfriend, she couldn't deny that a part of her was excited by his words. She knew that she wasn't quite ready for that step yet, but the more time she spent with Finn the more comfortable she became with the idea. The issue of their virginities had come up not too long ago, and she had informed him that she thought they should wait. As she knew he would, Finn respected her wishes. Sure, sometimes he was a little overeager, and occasionally he got a little handsy, but that was to be expected of a teenage boy. And if she was being honest, part of her didn't always want to stop him.

"Inappropriate. You're lucky that you're almost as talented as me, let's go" she replied cheekily, pulling him upstairs.

* * *

The couple sang for about two hours until Rachel felt their vocal ranges had been fully tested, and well tuned; sure it had been a spur of the moment plan, but practice was practice and Rachel Berry takes her craft seriously. Then after a quick make out session it was time for Finn to go home.

"So I'll pick you up in the morning?" Finn asked, coming up for air from what had turned into another make out by the front door.

"Yes please, I hope you won't be in any trouble tomorrow for missing practice."

"Don't worry about it Rach, I wanted to be here" he shrugged, playing with the button on his sleeve. "But you're going to have to find another ride home tomorrow, I wish I could bring you, but, you know, practice."

"Yeah, that's fine I'll just catch a ride with Kurt again, or Mercedes."

"Cool, see you in the morning beautiful, love you" he leaned in to kiss Rachel on the forehead.

"Love you too" she called, shutting the door to lock the knob, the dead bolt, and the top latch that she had almost forgotten was there. You know just in case.

After completing her nightly ritual, Rachel felt even more relaxed. She felt refreshed, and ready to take on the next day. It was sure to be a good day, she would make sure of it. Smiling to herself Rachel turned off her bedside lamp, put her pink eye covers in place, and drifted off to sleep. She never noticed the tiny camera hidden in her bookcase, nor did she notice that her window was slightly cracked open.

**_I have sooooo many ideas for this story! I hope you stick with it! Reviews and Criticisms make my day!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee, or any of the characters.**_

_**Thanks so much for the reviews and support, it means a lot! I'll shut up, here's the next chapter.**_

This was officially the worst day ever. Rachel woke up with a major headache, but she wasn't quite sure why, she was taking her daily vitamins religiously. Maybe it had been the odd chill in her room last night; the AC must have some sort of problem. Then she couldn't find her lucky gold star necklace when she was getting ready this morning. She dumped everything out of her desk drawer, and emptied her pocketbook twice but it was nowhere to be found. But the worst part, the cherry on top of her horrible day, was the surprise waiting for her in the choir room at the start of glee practice.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Rachel squeaked.

"Calm down guys, I know this is a bit of a surprise but Jesse is here to help us prepare for Nationals." Mr. Schuester announced to the rowdy twelve teenagers.

"Oh hell to the nah Mr. Schue, we don't need him, he's just gonna cause trouble like the last time!"

"Mercedes, Jesse has assured me that he's here to help, he has the best intentions for us."

"Mr. Schuester, the fact that I just dislike Jesse as a person and that the smell of his cheap hair gel is making me lightheaded aside; I have to agree with Mercedes, we don't need him here." Kurt said.

"Listen guys, whether you like it or not, Jesse is here and he is going to help us. We all know that Jesse has experience, and we could use that to give us an edge. I need all of you to suck it up, we're a team, and now Jesse is a part of that team. Since he graduated last year he's not your competition anymore, you're going to have to trust him." A chorus of groans echoed around the room while Rachel buried her face in Finn's shoulder. She could feel how tense his muscles were; apparently he hated the idea of Jesse being here just as much as she did.

"Okay, now Jesse thinks it would be a good idea to move ahead with the auditioning. Today won't be the official auditions for solos in the set, but it will give us the chance to put you on the spot and see how you do under pressure. Rachel, why don't you come up and start us off?"

Ugh, of course auditions would start on the horrific day when her throat felt slightly like sandpaper, she had a headache, _and _she didn't have her lucky star.

"Mr. Schue, as much as I would love to demonstrate for my fellow glee clubbers how to properly perform under pressure, I'm going to have to decline and pass the offer onto someone else."

"Good idea hobbit, it's about time I get to show you how it's done." Santana moved to stand but was halted by Jesse.

"Hold on Santana, Rachel do you realize that in the case of an actual audition you won't be able to say you don't feel like it, or you don't want to perform that day, or that you aren't ready? When the director says that you're up, you're up; and I think that's what Mr. Schuester just told you. If you can't step up and correct yourself now, how would you ever make it in the business?" The kiss up looked towards Mr. Schue, obviously expecting support in his tortuously correct statement. Curse him and his experience.

"He's right Rachel, come on and start us off." He sent Rachel a supportive smile, sitting down next to Jesse in the front row. She ignored the temper tantrum she was throwing in her mind and stood up to take the floor. Rachel turned her back on the death glare Santana was shooting her way, and gave her song selection to the pianist. As the opening notes filled the room she took a deep breath, and proceeded to release a very un-Rachel like sound. Given, it didn't sound as bad as the time that she'd lost her voice, but the scrunched up faces of her fellow members including Finn, let her know it wasn't exactly a pleasure either. Still, she was nothing if not dedicated and pushed her way through to the end of the song. Rachel was met with a very weak applause at the end, mostly from politeness on Mr. Schue's part, duty on Finn's, and sarcasm from Santana. But applause was applause so she bowed and returned to her seat.

"Well, um, who is next? Santana are you ready?"

"Just a second Will, if I can call you Will…"

"I don't think so…"

"We should critique each performance, it will add to the experience, make them push themselves harder." Still ignoring Mr. Schuester, he continued again, "Rachel that was a completely unacceptable performance. There was no passion, and it's obvious that you weren't prepared. Your voice is an instrument that needs to be properly tuned Rachel; you're going to have to get serious and take better care of it if you want to get this solo. Next."

"I told you in the first place that I wasn't ready. I take excellent care of my voice, but I woke up with a bit of a head cold this morning. It was completely out of my control and I don't appreciate being misjudged because of…"

"Still unacceptable, better luck next time. _Next."_

* * *

Rachel bit the inside of her tongue through the rest of glee, though it made her feel slightly better that she wasn't the only one who got a rude chewing out by Jesse, it still outraged her that he could come into their space and demean them so easily. Only Blaine and Santana received high remarks from him, part of her wondered if he complimented Santana just to push her buttons, but that was silly. She knew how professional Jesse was, even though she hated it, and he was going about it in a terribly rude and infuriating way, he was pushing them. That wouldn't keep her from complaining though.

"God can you believe the audacity of him?! Who does he think he is? He has no idea how hard I've worked, how many vitamins I take a day, and the vocal exercises I've been perfecting since Regionals!"

"I know babe, I know…" Finn answered automatically, eyes roaming the hall not even looking at her.

"Hey, why aren't you participating? We're supposed to rant together and compare notes on how we want him to be eaten by a family of lions, or plot to shave his hair off in his sleep." She whined, pulling his hand to capture his attention.

"I'm sorry babe, he was a jerk to you, but we both know that you'll make him eat his words as soon as you start to feel better. I was more concerned with the fact that he couldn't take his eyes off of you in there, looks like you still get under his skin too." He finally turned his full attention to her.

"Don't be ridiculous Finn; there are no more feelings between Jesse and I. Our relationship is strictly professional, aside from the wishing heinous things on him part."

His face pulled up into the half smile that she loves so much and she knew she had just avoided that near problem, "I know, I'm sorry...but I need to get to practice, Beiste is making me do extra laps today. I'm gonna be beat by the time it's over, so I'll just see you in the morning okay?"

"Oh, okay that's fine, but we really need to practice again soon. Our instruments do need tuning." She rolled her eyes, imagining a grand pink piano falling on top of Jesse.

"Right, don't forget to take your vitamins, we'll know if you don't." he taunted, stooping down to give her a gentle kiss before taking off towards the gym.

Though she would be mortified if she were caught, she couldn't help but ogle Finn's retreating form. She told him once that he was the hottest guy in school and even though he didn't seem to believe it, it was the truth. Never in her life would Rachel Berry, the weird, neurotic theater girl, have thought she'd snag the gorgeous, quarterback type. She didn't look like Quinn, and she didn't have Santana's sex appeal, but by some miracle she had gotten him. As if his looks weren't enough, his body was more. He wasn't overly muscular, and he wasn't scrawny and lanky. He was just the right build to give her a sense of security, and to be the best cuddler in the history of cuddlers. Not that she had much to compare to, but the feeling of being in his arms was unlike anything else. Finally bringing herself out of her thoughts Rachel realized she was now standing alone in the hallway.

She also realized that distracted by her fit of anger she had completely forgotten to ask Kurt or Mercedes for a ride home. Well this was unfortunate. Her first instinct was to follow in the direction that Finn had gone, but he had just missed one practice for her and was going to be penalized for it, she couldn't bother him. Her dads were out of town again, so she couldn't call them. Finally she decided to walk out to the front parking lot, maybe one of her friends would still be around and she could tag along with them.

Spotting a couple of the guys from the hockey team who looked like they were holding slushees, Rachel ducked into the girl's bathroom. Once the hall sounded empty, she re-emerged thankful for her quick reflexes; slushee facial and a head-cold were not a good combination. The hallway was so empty, so quiet; she immediately started to feel anxious and she started to walk a little faster toward the front of the school. The familiar anxiety caused another realization to hit. In all the drama of the day, she hadn't even realized that she had not received another note. Well, there was one good thing about today after all; they must have been getting bored. Debating to herself whether or not she should be offended by that, she walked right into someone, shocking herself and nearly falling backwards before being caught by the elbow.

"Jesse?"

_**Gasp! Is this good, or bad? Reviews are greatly appreciated! **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.**_

_**And the mystery continues…thanks for all the support! Read and Review!**_

* * *

Rachel snatched her arm out of Jesse's grasp, stumbling and promptly falling on her rear end.

"Ow!"

"Rachel, are you okay?" She wanted to knock the smile right off of his face, how dare he laugh at her. Instead she settled for shooing away the hand he stretched out to help her up. She did _not _need his help.

"I don't know Jesse, are you talking about the injury that you just caused me or my wounded pride from all your help earlier?" she sneered, dusting off her bottom and straightening her skirt.

At least he had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

"I'm sorry Rachel, but you know that everything I said was true. I didn't know that you were sick, but you really should be taking precautions to avoid such things."

"I'll have you know that I take all kinds of precautions thank you! I've been popping vitamins like candy and working my butt off; I'm not sure what happened to throw me off last night but I can assure you that it will be fixed."

"Maybe you were distracted…I've noticed you're still dating _Finn_." Was that jealousy she detected in his tone? Good.

"Yes I am, and we are very happy. Finn respects me and supports me in all of my endeavors unlike some people. I resent the fact that you think he would hinder my abilities."

"I was only making an observation Rachel; I don't want to see you make any mistakes by getting wrapped up in something this close to the competition. We both know you don't have the best track record with that sort of thing…" he said, looking directly in her eyes and fueling her anger all over again. "Look, if it means anything, I hope you get better soon. Those guys in there could use a good example, and for some reason Will won't let me perform for them."

"Really? Oh how silly of _Mr. Schuester" _she cried with mock exasperation, throwing her arms in the air and making him chuckle.

"Still such a drama queen I see. How about this, let's start over, okay? Hi Rachel, it's so good to see you again. Has anyone told you how beautiful you look today?"

The sarcastic comment died in her throat before it came out at his last statement. Did she just receiver her note, in person? It had to be a coincidence right?

"Jesse, you haven't been leaving me notes have you?"

"Notes Rachel?"  
"You just called me beautiful, and recently I've received a few notes telling me the same thing."

"Is that what Finn has downgraded you to, leaving you childlike notes to express his feelings? I really don't know what you see in him."

"I'm being serious Jesse, have you left me any notes?"

"No Rachel, the only notes I've given you were quite out loud today, and you didn't exactly appreciate them." He looked like he was telling the truth, and really she couldn't see Jesse taking the time to compliment her for no reason. But she still didn't trust him.

"Now Rachel, what are you doing out here? Do you need a ride home, I'd be glad to take you?"

No way in heck was Rachel getting in the car with Jesse. But what were her options? All of her friends were gone by now, Finn would be at practice for God knows how long, and she certainly couldn't walk all the way to her house.

"Rachel my sweet what are you still doing here?" Why is it that only the people Rachel least wants to see seem to have stayed over at school today. What did she do to deserve this?

"Hello Jacob, I'm actually on my way home now." Well at least this was a distraction, "thank you for your offer Jesse but I'm going to decline. Goodbye" she called over her shoulder coolly, heading again towards to front of the school. When she reached the outside, she hugged herself against the slight chill. She really would have to thank Finn for his chivalry. The doors opened again revealing Jacob this time, still not her person of choice but a step up from Jesse.

"Rachel, what are you doing standing out here? It's starting to get cold." Maybe Jacob wasn't just a sex crazed jerk after all, that sounded almost caring.

"I, well I don't actually have a ride home so I was contemplating my options." His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at her words and she knew she would regret what she was about to do.

"Why didn't you say so, I'd _love _to give you a ride" his eyebrows bounced at her suggestively, and she rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long ride.

* * *

Ignoring Jacob's offers of making body heat to stay warm, and swatting the hand that constantly reached over to grab her hand, or linger on her thigh, Rachel started to toy with his radio. Finding a station that she approved of, she leaned back in her seat, turning her attention out the window simply to avoid making eye contact with Jacob.

Under normal circumstances she would be singing along with the classic tune, but she knew that she needed to rest her voice. Hopefully there was some honey at home and she could make a hot pot of tea. Quietly humming to herself Rachel was extremely surprised to hear gentle singing coming from next to her. Jacob was singing, and he actually sounded pretty decent. He could use some help with his pitch, but nonetheless it was better than she expected.

"I didn't know you could sing Jacob." It was the first full sentence she had spoken since getting in his car, she could tell from how his smile pulled up to his ears that he was rather pleased. Maybe she shouldn't be flattering him.

"Thank you my pet, I've been learning a lot of things lately."

Before she could give him the heads up Jacob turned onto her street, finding her home easily and pulling into the driveway.

"Jacob, how do you know where I live?"

"I stay right down the street; we've been almost neighbors for the last eight years. Of course I know where you live, I have high hopes to move in here one day and have twelve Jewish babies for your dads to spoil. You can spoil me" he suggested, again reaching out for her thigh.

Ew. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I have a boyfriend Jacob, I am not interested and I will never be interested, so please remove that fantasy from your mind."Plucking his hand off of her leg, Rachel moved to undo her seatbelt and open her door.

"You should never say never Rachel, you might not always have a boyfriend."

Not willing to spend another moment in that car; it had been a bad enough day, Rachel jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind her, and completely missing the strange look on Jacob's face.

_**Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are love!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee.**_

The next morning Rachel's necklace still was nowhere to be found. She'd searched and searched but it had disappeared. Maybe it flew out of her window somehow the other night when it had been left open; Finn must have opened it while they were rehearsing and forgotten to close up on the matter, she went about getting dressed for school, singing softly to herself.

Rachel knew that she had a very healthy imagination, she often imagined an audience in her mind when she gave performances, or sang to herself in the shower, but this morning she felt like she _really _had an audience. Walking over to her window, Rachel pulled back the curtain and peeked down catching a glimpse of a shadow darting around the corner.

She wasn't going to be scared this time, she was Rachel Berry and Rachel Berry didn't back down from anything. Flinging her window all the way up Rachel crawled over the ledge, jumping the short distance to the big tree right next to it and climbing down. Luckily she had been climbing the big tree since she was a small girl, so she got down in flash and took off at a run in the direction the shadow had gone.

"Get back here criminal" she cried rounding the corner and running smack into a broad, familiar chest. "Finn? What are you doing out here?"

"I, I thought I saw something when I pulled up so I got out to check it out. But I didn't see anything besides this note." Finn held out a small pink piece of paper. 'What is this Rachel?"

Taking the paper from his hand, Rachel opened it to find the words _I have a secret. Be careful, and I might share it. _

"Is there anything we need to talk about Rachel?" Finn stared into her eyes, searching for an answer, but she just couldn't give it to him. This particular note was a lot stranger than any of the previous ones. What kind of secret could they possibly have? Was it about her? And what did it mean to be careful? Whatever the case may be, she knew that pulling Finn in would be the opposite of careful.

"No, no of course not. I don't know what that is Finn, it's probably a joke, or one of Daddy's friends' invitation to another murder mystery dinner. What did you think you saw out here?"

"Nothing, it was probably just a stray dog or something. Never mind, I was jut seeing things I guess. You go ahead to the car; I'll crawl back up and close your window, okay" Finn said, tossing Rachel his keys.

Settling herself into the passenger seat Rachel took a deep breath, calming her frayed nerves and trying to prepare herself for whatever waited for her at school.

* * *

"Hey man hands!"

Rachel turned around from her locker to see Santana coming towards her, something shiny dangling from her slender fingers.

"Here's some advice for you, how about trying to keep better track of your stuff so I don't find it in my things. I'm going to have to go home and disinfect everything this touched" Santana sneered, dropping Rachel's gold star pendant necklace into her hands.

"How did you…did you steal this from me" Rachel screeched, appalled at Santana's behavior.

"Don't flatter yourself Berry, why would I want anything that you have. You should be glad I brought it to you instead of dumping it in the trash where it belongs."

"I've been looking for that necklace for days Santana, how else would you have it unless you stole it from me!"

"I'd cool it with the accusations if I were you Berry, Snixx hasn't been let out in a while and I know she'd love to tear into you. Besides I found it in my stuff, were _you _snooping around _my_ things?" Rachel gulped at the threat, but stood her ground nonetheless.

"First off it's a little bit ridiculous to walk around talking as if you have schizophrenia Santana. And furthermore, I would do no such thing. I feel no need to snoop on you, my life is plenty interesting alone. What I don't understand is why you even brought it back to me, what's the point in returning something that you stole? Is it a new criminal trend?"

"For the last time Berry, I didn't steal your stupid necklace, I _found_ it. And I brought it back to you because I know that's what you consider your lucky charm or something, and I want you to be at your best when I beat you for one of the soloist spots at Nationals. No excuses. Now get out of my way, I gots places to be."

Pushing past Rachel Santana made her way down the hallway without a glance behind her.

* * *

The radio silence was eerie the rest of the day. She kept expecting to find a note at her locker between classes, or at lunch, but none ever came. She didn't see much of Finn either, he wasn't at her locker like he usually was, and he didn't show up at lunch either which was kind of depressing. Seeing Finn was what always made her days better, after their awkward encounter this morning she really needed that.

Kurt was nowhere to be found either; at least if she didn't get to see Finn at school she usually had Kurt and Blaine to keep her company. She felt really alone, and it was unnerving. But they had glee rehearsal this afternoon and they would both be there. Rachel held onto that thought to get herself through the day.

Finally Rachel walked into the choir room, releasing a deep breath when she saw Finn sitting in the back row. Taking her seat next to him Rachel linked her arm into his.

"Hey, where were you today? I missed you."

Not offering her an answer, he pulled her face to his, planting a kiss on her surprised lips. "I love you, do you know that?"

And here she thought she was the dramatic one in the relationship; that was cryptic.

"Could the two of you stop eye screwing one another for two seconds, I'm having a crisis."

"What do you want Kurt?" Finn groaned, keeping an arm tight around Rachel's shoulders.

"I haven't heard from Blaine since last night, have either of you seen him at school today? We were going to shame everyone with our fabulous rendition of 'Perfect' today."

For some reason the simple comment brought goosebumps to her skin.

"No Kurt, I haven't seen him either" Rachel answered, looking towards the door willing Blaine to walk in and erase the worry.

No such luck. Instead Mr. Schuester and Jesse walked through the door, shutting it behind them.

"Okay guys, we're going to start with some warm-ups then anyone who wants to audition can take the floor." Mr. Schuester and Jesse turned towards the piano while the rest of the group got up to gather in front of it.

Losing herself in the vocal exercises, Rachel pushed her thoughts of Blaine to the back of her mind. He wasn't her boyfriend, and there were a number of logical reasons that he could be absent from school today. Associating it with herself, and feeling anxious over it was just silly.

As soon as they were done with the warm-ups and the group broke up going back to their seats, Rachel excused herself to get a sip of water from the fountain outside. Her phone started to buzz against her hip, and she pulled it out to see a new picture message from an unknown number. Making her way back to the class Rachel opened the message to find a picture of Blaine. He was sitting in a dark corner, head resting against the wall with a piece of tape over his mouth, and ropes tying his hands and feet together. Underneath the picture were the words 'Shhhh, it's our secret. One competitor down my star, tell anyone, and I'll make sure he never competes again.'

Nearly dropping her phone Rachel carried herself on shaky legs into the classroom, dropping into the first available seat. So lost in her own turmoil that she didn't even notice, Kurt slipped over and plopped down next to her.

"You don't have to hide Rachel, you can come back and sit with Finn. Your mushy romance won't bother me as much anymore, Blaine finally texted me."

"What?" Snapping her head up, Rachel scanned the room. There was no way that Blaine had texted Kurt; she couldn't even tell if he was conscious in that picture. It had to be whoever had taken him. Her eyes landed on Jesse who had his phone out in front of him, then onto Tina who also had her phone out. Actually, pretty much everyone in the room had their phones out, including Mr. Schuester. "What did it say?"

"He stayed out of school sick today. He thinks he has the flu or something so he doesn't know how long he'll be out for. Why do you look so pale?"

_**Thanks for reading! Reviews are love! **_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.**_

This couldn't be happening. Why would somebody to this to her, why to Blaine? Rachel would be the first one to admit that competition was always a serious matter, but to go to this kind of extremes? Who would want her to win that bad? Maybe they don't even want her to win at all, maybe it's just a ruse and she's doomed either way. She didn't know what to think, and it felt like the walls were starting to close in on her the longer she sat in that room under Kurt's gaze. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, how could she when she knew that his boyfriend was locked away somewhere possibly hurt.

"Excuse me, I'm not feeling well" she mumbled, flying from her chair and into the empty hallway. This was just too much pressure, she couldn't keep this kind of secret it was plain cruel. But she couldn't not keep it either, the thought of what this person might do to Blaine was too scary.

"Rachel? What's wrong, I'm used to your storm outs but not like this."

Jumping at the voice Rachel turned, relieved to find Mr. Schuester. Thank God it wasn't Jesse, she couldn't handle that right now.

"I'm sorry Mr. Schuester, I know this is very unprofessional of me but I just, I don't feel very good. I have a lot on my mind."

"This is the second time this week Rachel, I'm starting to worry about you. It's not the nerves is it? I know it's our first time at Nationals but you guys are doing so great. Really, I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you Mr. Schuester. The group has come a long way, and I've been preparing myself for this moment my whole life, but I, maybe I just need a break. I'll sit out today, but I promise I'll have myself pulled together by tomorrow"

"Absolutely not Rachel. You're the captain of this club, and those guys in there are counting on you. You're going to put a smile on and you're going to go take the floor_ first_ and show yourself that you're ready. And my ears still kind of hurt from the last time you performed, I need you to redeem yourself." Nudging her in the side, Rachel couldn't help but smile at her teacher. He was right, she had to do this.

* * *

Rachel might have been in the room, but only physically. For the first time she hadn't paid any attention to the way her performance sounded, she didn't even pay attention to the critique she received from Jesse or Mr. Schuester at the end. She had no idea what anyone else had sang, and she just couldn't bring herself to care. All she could think about was Blaine. When was that picture taken? Was he okay now? Would whoever had him simply return him soon without causing any harm? She'd tried a few times replying to the message the unknown number had sent her, but each time the message just bounced back to her. So, to release frustration, she started sending strongly worded messages saying exactly what she thought about them, each one coming right back to her.

"Rachel? Rach, it's time to go." Coming out of her daze, Rachel looked into the caring eyes of her boyfriend.

"What do you mean it's time to go?" Looking around she realized that they were the only ones in the room.

"You've been kind of spaced out the whole time babe, rehearsal is over, let's get you home."

"Finn, do you think, maybe you could stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone."

"Sure, Rachel."

She may still be scared out of her mind, but she would always be safe with Finn.

* * *

"So you never told me where you were at during school today? It didn't feel natural not seeing you at my locker between classes, my lips missed you." Rachel pouted, tossing her dirty clothes into her hamper after a relaxing shower. The hot water had worked some of the knots out of her muscles, and being with Finn like this,was exactly what she needed.

"Oh, just your lips?" he teased back, standing up to kiss her.

"Pretty much, my eyes get tired of seeing you, you're a lot to take in" she said, making a show of craning her neck up to look at him.

"Ha ha, maybe you're just super short."

"Valid point, but you love me. Which is why you're going to give into my questioning and tell me where you were today, then make it up to me and my lips." Rachel crawled into her bed, pulling Finn in beside her.

"I just had some things to take care of Rach, and got busy, but don't worry my lips missed you too, _very_ much." Dropping his head to connect their mouths again, he removed all thoughts of the previous day from her mind.

"Did you ever find out who that note was from today Rach?"

"Oh, um no. I'm sure it was just some kind of joke or something. i haven't given it a second thought."

She hated lying to Finn, but she couldn't risk telling him the truth. What if they found out, and tried to hurt her, or worse hurt him?

"Listen, Jewfro hasn't been bothering you lately, has he?"

"Jacob?" Why would you ask that?"

"The kid's like obsessed with you Rachel. He has tons of pictures of you in his locker, he's constantly following you, trying to interview you for for his blog, or find any excuse to be close to you and it's kinda freaking creepy. He was bragging at school today that he got to take you home earlier this week."

Crap. She'd almost forgotten about that dreadful day.

"Yes, well, I didn't have a ride home and he was actually nice enough to give me a lift. Before you can ask, no, he didn't try anything inappropriate. He did try to hold my hand a time or two but that was nothing I couldn't handle."

"And he didn't do anything crazy, or say anything to upset you?"

"What could Jacob possibly say to upset me?"

"I don't know, I just don't like you being around him. If you ever get stuck, or need a ride or anything you come get me okay? I'll stop whatever I'm doing."

In spite of the fact that part of her resented being told who she could associate with, Rachel could understand where Finn was coming from. He had her best interests at heart, he always did.

"Yes sir."

"I'm being serious Rach."

"I know Finn, and I intend to comply" she conceded, hooking a leg over his hip, "now, anymore requests?"

"Good. I think I have an appointment with your lips." Grinning at his cheesy line, Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn's neck, pulling him flush against her.

"I'm sorry if I've been acting strange lately Finn, I've just been so stressed out with everything; it feels like everything that could go wrong has."

"I know Rach, I wish I could help you relax. But everything is gonna work out, you just can't give up. I'll be here to support you each step of the way."

Looking into the warm amber eyes of her boyfriend, she saw more love and caring than she could have ever asked for. Sure her world may be slowly falling apart around her, but she had Finn, and that was all she needed. She loved him more than she even knew how to express, but she had a good idea where to start.

"Maybe you can help me relax." Slowly reaching down, Rachel pulled the nightgown over her head, revealing only her underwear to him.

"What are you-?"

"Shhh...I need you." She reached for the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head as well, before pressing her bare chest against his own and meeting their mouths together in a fiery kiss.

Finn responded quickly, pulling her small frame closer into his larger one, roaming his hands over the smooth skin of her back. Rachel grabbed for the button on his jeans, undoing it quickly then undoing the zipper when Finn's hand came down to stop her.

"Rachel, are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure about you. This is where I'm supposed to be, this is what I want to be doing, with you. I love you."

Releasing her hand, Finn allowed her to finish undoing his jeans. Once they were down to his ankles he separated from her, pulling the pants off completely and grabbing a condom out of the wallet in his pocket.

The pair lied together in a tangle of limbs, kissing and touching anywhere they could reach before Finn finally removed Rachel's underwear. Tossing the underwear, Finn crawled over her to droop his hips between her thighs, resting his weight on his elbows. Reaching over to grab the condom, Finn ripped open the foil and rolled it onto his length. Once in place, Finn looked down, searching Rachel's eyes for any sign of doubt.

"I'm ready Finn."

Pushing forward inch by inch, Finn connected their bodies for the first time. The discomfort was clear on Rachel's face, but after some shifting around on her part, and pausing on his, her body started to relax. He rocked into her slowly, building up into a steady rhythm. She could tell that he was being extremely careful with her, gentle, and she loved every bit of it. She lost track of the sounds coming from her mouth, as she clung tighter to Finn, pulling him deeper into her. She wasn't sure how long they'd been connected, but soon her senses overtook her, as she fell over the edge, Finn joining her at the same time.

* * *

She knew that it made her a terrible person, that she should be thinking nonstop about Blaine and how to find him, and that wasn't far from her mind. But she couldn't wipe the smile from her face that had been glued there all morning. Last night had been absolutely perfect. Her body was slightly sore now, but it was a good kind of sore. A kind she could get used to. She'd never felt more connected to Finn before, and she never wanted to lose the feeling.

He left not long after they'd woken to go home, shower and get new clothes to wear. It already felt like he'd been gone for hours as she waited for him to get back and drive them to school.

Slipping back into her memories of the night before, Rachel was interrupted by a knock on her door. Bouncing up and grabbing her things, she flung it open ready to step outside.

"It's about time! I- Jacob? What are you doing here?"

Jacob stood on her porch, looking at her like she was a wounded kitten or something.

"Rachel, I need to talk to you."

"And it couldn't have waited until we were at school?"

"He'd never let me get near you, you have to listen."

"Calm down Jacob, what are you talking about?"

"I know what's been happening to you Rachel. I didn't really at first I swear, but then I saw him-"

Jacob was interrupted by the slamming of a car door.

"Get the hell away from her!" Finn roared, spanning the distance towards them in just a few quick strides.

"Finn stop!"

"Don't listen to anything he says Rachel! I told you to stay away from her" He bellowed, getting even closer to the frightened boy." Jacob backed up on the small porch, trying to put space between himself and Finn.

"Rachel you have to believe me, stay away from-"

Before she could blink, she saw Finn push. Jacob lost his footing, falling backwards into the side of the house, knocking his head into the ledge of the window.

He didn't get up.

_**GASP! Read and Review!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of it's characters. **_

_**Thanks for all of the lovely reviews, follows and favorites, it pushes me to continue! **_

"Oh my God, what did you do?!"

Rushing over to where Jacob had fallen Rachel placed a hand on the side of his neck. His pulse was strong, but he was very clearly unconscious. He had taken a hard hit. His forehead had a gash in it from where he had hit the ledge, and Rachel had to turn away from the blood oozing out.

"I, I didn't mean to Rachel, I was just trying to get him to stop."

"Get him to stop what Finn? All he was trying to do was help me! I can't believe you would do this!"

"I'm so sorry Rachel, I'm so sorry." Finn stepped closer to her, causing her to shrink back away from him.

How could he do this? She had seen Finn get upset and knock over countless chairs or random pieces of furniture, she'd even seen him get into a fight with Puck once, but she'd never seen Finn behave the way that he just had. There was pure rage in his eyes when he rushed Jacob, rage and panic.

Jacob's words came rushing back to her as she looked down at him, _he wouldn't let me anywhere near you_, _I know what's been happening to you...I saw him. _

It all made sense now; Finn acting so strange lately, disappearing at school right before she received the picture of Blaine, his insistence that she not be anywhere near Jacob.

It was Finn, Jacob had been warning her about Finn.

"You did it, didn't you?" she gasped out.

Finn looked at her, looked her right in the eyes and dropped his head.

"Rachel, I-"

"No, stop! How could you? I trusted you!"

She couldn't stand to look at him, how could he do this to her? To their team?

"I know Rachel, but you have to listen to me, hear me out" he pleaded, grabbing her elbow.

Shaking his hand off of her, she pushed him forward, clearing enough space for her to rush past him and back inside the house.

Locking all of the locks Rachel grabbed the umbrella from the stand by the door to use as a weapon, just in case. She had just seen up close what Finn was capable of, and she was terrified of what he would do now that she knew the truth. Fearing for Jacob, who in her haste, she'd forgotten about and left outside, she pulled out her cell phone dialing 911.

Finn banged on her door, begging over and over for her to come out or to let him in. Clutching the umbrella tighter in her hands, she fell to the ground, scooting as far from the door as she could, ignoring his pleas.

After Rachel had given her information and hung up the phone, she realized that the beating on her door had stopped. Fearing that Finn might have went around the house to crawl up the tree she took off up the stairs, rushing into her bedroom. The window was securely shut, which made her feel better for about five seconds before she felt her phone vibrate.

Picking up the phone, she saw a new message waiting in her inbox, from an unknown number. Her stomach began to sink as she opened it.

_Thanks for getting rid of him before I had to. _

Attached to the words were three pictures that chilled her blood. They were photos of her and Finn from last night, laying in her bed together. They were naked, completely vulnerable making love unaware of the camera.

How could these pictures have been taken though? Finn obviously couldn't have taken them, he was in the pictures. They weren't taken from the direction that her window was in either, it was like the camera was in the room with them.

Getting up to investigate the area that it seemed the photos had been taken from, she started rummaging in her bookshelf. Throwing things to the floor in her hurried search. Finally, she found it near the top, a small, barely visible camera, blinking red.

Holy Barbara, they'd had access to her in her most personal space all of this time, and she had no idea.

The sirens finally registered in her ears, and she took off at a sprint down the stairs.

Swinging her door open, she was just in time to see Jacob being loaded into the back of an ambulance, while a handcuffed Finn was having his head shoved down to be seated in the back of the police car.

* * *

The police questioned Rachel for a while, but finally they'd gotten all of the information that they were going to get from her. She wanted more than anything to tell the police about what had been happening to her, but she couldn't do it. She was no closer to knowing who was doing all of this to her than she ever had been, if anything she was just more confused.

She wasn't sure how much she could trust Finn, he was clearly hiding something from her, something that was important enough to fly into a rage and hurt another person, but she didn't know what that was. The only person who knew anything, the only person that it seemed could possibly help her was laying in a hospital bed unconscious.

Jacob still hadn't regained consciousness from his altercation with Finn, and it was really worrying her. Not just because he held information that she very much needed, but because she didn't want him to be seriously hurt or anything. She would feel terrible, and Finn would probably end up in jail for good. The list of people that she felt responsible for their pain was just piling up.

She had gathered that Finn was going to be kept in a holding cell for a while, until they figured out how to deal with what happened. It was hard to picture, Finn sitting in a jail cell, probably scared out of his mind. She hated to think of him that way, especially when he might not even deserve it, but she couldn't deny that something was wrong there.

Walking out of the police station and into the brisk air, Rachel wrapped her arms around her, holding herself together. She didn't know what to do now, but she knew that she couldn't go home. Whoever was watching her had been inside her house, they'd been in her_ bedroom_. They had gotten so close to her, slipping into her room unnoticed. Her fathers still weren't home from their trip yet, and the one boy that she felt the safest with was locked up in a holding cell. She couldn't go stay with Kurt; after Blaine and now what had happened with Finn she wasn't sure how she could face him. With no options left to her, she called the only other person she could think of that would be able to help her.

* * *

"Mr. Hudson, you're free to go."

Looking up from his corner Finn shot to his feet.

"Excuse me?"

"Mr. Israel has finally woken up, and he has chosen not to press charges. You're getting off with a warning young man, another slip like this one and you might not wind up so lucky, understood?"

"Yes sir. So, he's okay? Jacob?" he stuttered, hastily jumping to his feet and walking towards the officer.

"Mr. Israel is still at the hospital but his condition isn't as bad as it looked at first. He's asking to see you. I'd make amends with him if I was you son, he could have had your balls."

"Yes sir, thank you sir."

Finn grabbed his things from the box in the station, jumped into his car and sped off towards the hospital.

* * *

"Hey dude, how are you doing?"

Jacob turned his head at the sound of Finn's voice, exposing the huge knot on the side of his forehead.

"I've been better" he croaked.

Rubbing the back of his neck Finn stepped further into the room, closing the hospital room door behind him.

"Look, I'm sorry man I didn't mean to-"

"I know why you did it, you were trying to protect her, which is exactly what I was trying to do."

"How was that protecting her, telling her that? You told me you wouldn't do it, that you would keep it to yourself. I haven't slushied you or any of your friends, and I've even been keeping Puck off of your back but you had to go and tell her that. You know I love her, I love her more than I've ever loved anything in my life. What happened is in the past, before we were even together. She's so fragile, telling her that was only going to hurt her and you know it, I can't even think about how she must be feeling right now."

"Finn, this isn't about you sleeping with Santana, I wasn't going to tell her that, but right now that's the least of your problems."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Rachel is in trouble, big trouble, and we have to help her."

_**We're at the end guys! Thanks for sticking with me this far, I probably won't be able to update until tomorrow or so, but the conclusion is coming, don't worry! Read and Review!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.**_

_**Thanks to all of you for your support, it means so much to me! This will be the final chapter! Hope you all enjoy! **_

"Thank you for coming to pick me up" Rachel said, climbing into the car.

"No problem Rachel, where do you want to go?"

"I certainly don't want to go home, but I suppose I do need to go and pick up some things to keep with me. I left in a bit of a hurry."

"And then, where will you go from there?"

"I have no idea, I guess I'll figure it out."

* * *

**"**You lost me Jacob, what do you mean Rachel is in trouble?" Finn asked, leaning closer to the boy.

"A few weeks ago, I got a note asking me for pictures of Rachel, good pictures, you know like what I usually take. I never asked who it was, or why they wanted them, I thought it was just someone else appreciating her talent and beauty, so I didn't think anything of it and I started sending them copies of the photos I took. But right after the message came, I started to notice Rachel looking upset in most of the pictures, completely unlike the bubbly, determined beauty I usually capture on camera. It was like she was was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"I wasn't sure. Then, I got a message saying that my services weren't required anymore. It didn't bother me, just meant less work for me and not passing off my hard work to someone else. I was putting together another chapter of my scrapbook for our future family when I noticed it. Looking closer at the photos I'd taken recently I started to notice that in more and more of them, there was someone who was always present in the background, never too far from her, watching her. It was weird, and that's coming from me."

"And it didn't cross your mind to tell her?" Finn asked, running a hand through his hair.

"I wanted to, but _somebody_ made it their life's mission to not let me get close enough to talk to her" he shot back.

"Oh my God, so, what you're telling me is that someone is actually stalking Rachel?"

"I think so. Even though the pictures were kind of creepy I didn't realize how serious it was until yesterday morning. On my way to school when I passed by her house I saw him, in her backyard and then I saw you running after him, so I didn't know if you were in on it. Sorry."

"Wait, so that wasn't you yesterday morning?"

"No. And I was going to tell her, but every time I tried to get close to her at school, you would pop up, blocking me. I was scared."

"I, I saw the curly hair then that note and I just assumed it was you...if it wasn't you, then who is it Jacob?

* * *

"I really do appreciate this Mr. Schuester, I feel kind of terrible that you had to leave home just to come get me."

"Leave home Rachel? I'm at home" he answered, waving an arm around to showcase his small, cramped car.

"Excuse me?"

"After, you know, the divorce Terry pretty much took everything...so I've been staying in my car. Hey, don't give me that look, it's not that bad. Besides, trust me I have plans for a much nicer lifestyle soon."

"Mr. Schuester that's just terrible" she cried, placing a hand over her heart. Mr. Schuester was such a good person, he'd always been there for her, he'd even come to pick her up from the police station when he didn't have to. Surely there could be some sort of way she could help him.

"I'll tell you what Mr. Schue, how about we help each other? Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but I'm scared to death to stay at home alone, and you don't even have a home to go to. Why don't you consider my home a bed and breakfast for a few nights? The house is two stories, so you could take the bottom floor, and I'll be upstairs. I'd feel much better knowing you had some quality shelter, and a great deal safer. Giving me a ride to school tomorrow can be your rent" she smiled over at her teacher.

"That's extremely generous of you Rachel, if you really don't mind that sounds like a good deal to me."

They finally pulled up to Rachel's home, and she jumped out to unlock the door, humming lowly to herself.

"You can go ahead and bring your things in Mr. Schue, the guest bedroom is right down that hall to the left" she called, heading up the stairs to her own bedroom.

Rachel did feel better having someone to keep her company, but she still felt uneasy, tense. Wanting to release some of it, she pulled out her phone to open the unknown message again, ready to start sending more angry messages about the injustice. She knew the messages would just bounce back to her, but it would make her feel better to get to voice her thoughts. She wished that the messages would actually go through, that she could get through to the person behind all of this. If only there was a way.

But wait, they have communicated with someone that she knows of. Kurt. They texted Kurt from Blaine's phone that day, maybe they still have it. Maybe if she calls Blaine's phone she will finally be able to get somewhere. She scrolled through her contacts until she found his name, pushed the little green icon, dialing his number, and jumped at the sound of ringing behind her.

Rachel turned around to find Mr. Schuester standing in her doorway, ringing coming from his pants. Looking down at her phone, then back up at Mr. Schuester she pressed the end button, and the ringing instantly stopped.

"Mr. Schuester...do you have Blaine's cell phone?"

"You weren't supposed to hear that Rachel" he answered, stepping further into the room with her.

"Why, all of this time? You? It's been you this whole time?" she breathed, backing up from the man.

"Why do you look so upset? I thought you would be happy. All this time you've wanted all the solos, you wanted to be the star, and now you are."

"But, Blaine-"

"Was very good" he interrupted, "but not as good as you, and he was only getting in the way. I had plans for Kurt next, but he's been so worried about Blaine being "sick" he hasn't cared much for the competition lately."

Rachel thought she was going to be sick, how could any of this be happening? This was Mr. Schuester she was talking about, one of the kindest people she had ever met. What could have possibly driven him to this?

"I dont, I don't understand Mr. Schue, why?" she asked, taking another step back from his advance.

"I need you Rachel, you're my star" he answered calmly, as if it was the most common of knowledge. "I have nothing left Rachel, nothing but you. You're supposed to win us Nationals, get me my money back so we can start over, then we can really set your career in motion." Mr. Schuester took another step closer, backing her up further.

"What money?"

"I bet on you Rachel, everything I have left is resting on you. That's how much I believe in you. You are going to win this for us, and when I win that money we're going to leave. We're going to get out of this cow town, go to New York, or wherever we need to. You're going to be my star Rachel, we can go so far, farther than you've probably even dared to dream. Farther than you'd ever get with Finn, I'm so glad you finally cut him loose. I was surprised you kept him around this long, after what he did with Santana."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you don't know? He didn't tell you that he slept with Santana a few months ago? Or that for the past few weeks she's been cornering him at school trying to talk him into having another go?"

Rachel clutched at her churning stomach, ignoring the growing pain in her head at the influx of information that had been thrown at her the last few minutes. How could she not have known that about Finn? If she was being completely honest, she did know though. She knew it all along, she just couldn't admit it to herself. She knew that Santana hated her, and she saw the way that she looked at Finn sometimes, it made sense. Never once though, had she seen Finn return any interest, there's no way he would, he loved her.

"And who's to say that he won't take her up on her offer? He's a teenage boy Rachel, they think with one thing and it's not their brain. But me, you don't have to worry about Rachel. I'll always take care of you, I've already showed you how much I support you" he said, taking her hands in his own. "I need to know that I can count on you. I didn't want you to know until you were ready, but it's too late for that now."

Looking into the desperate, crazed eyes of her teacher, the man she once thought would never hurt a fly, she froze. Her survival instincts were kicking in, she knew that there really was no saying no to his plan. He'd just told her, that basically his whole life was resting on her shoulders, he wasn't liable to take her ruining all of that too kindly. So she did the only thing that she could do, she turned her acting skills on.

"You can" she said, squeezing his hands. "I was so, upset that I didn't know who was watching me, I didn't know if I could trust them, but I know I can trust you. I've always trusted you, you take such good care of me. You should've told me sooner, it would've made things a lot simpler. I could have helped you."

"I didn't know how you would respond, and you always had Finn-"

"Not anymore, thank you so much for showing me who he really is. that's one less thing for me to have to worry about, he would only hold us back right?" she asked, feigning betrayal. "As a matter of fact, why don't we go ahead and wrap this up, no loose ends."

"What do you mean?" he asked, brushing his thumb over her knuckles, making her skin crawl.

"I can call the police station, informing them that the young man they just took in is guilty of the kidnapping of Blaine Anderson. We could go plant Blaine's cell phone at his house. They'll hold him while they try to find Blaine, giving us plenty of time to plan for Nationals, and our future."

"That would actually work, Blaine never saw me, he doesn't know who has him, it would be easy to pin it on Finn."

"Exactly" she cried, relieved that her plan was working. Smiling up at him she released his hands to grab her phone that had fallen to the floor.

"Wait a second Rachel, don't mess with me. How do I know that you're serious, that you want this" he asked, grabbing her wrist.

She hated herself for what she was doing, but she slowly took his hand, placing it around her waist and on her backside.

"You can trust me _Will_, I want to do this. We're a team now" she whispered with as much conviction as she could muster as she pulled his face down to hers. His mouth wasted no time moving against hers. His lips molded against her own, but it wasn't natural, it felt dirty. She felt dirty, but she pushed on, knowing that there was no other way.

Finally when the dreadful kiss was over, she pulled back to look up at him, hopefully veiling the disgust in her eyes. Unlocking her screen and typing in the number she touched his cheek reassuringly, taking a step past him closer to the door.

"Hi, my name is Rachel Berry and I'd like to report a kidnapping. Yes I'd like to come in and give my statement as soon as possible, I can come in a few hours from now" she said, winking conspiratorially over at him. "Yes, thank you. The kidnapper's name is, William Schuester and he's here, please help me!" she cried out.

"You bitch!" he yelled, lunging for her and she turned to run out of the door. Managing to reach her just as she cleared the first step he pushed, and she went tumbling down the stairs, as the sound of knocking registered in her ears.

"Help!" she screamed, clutching her throbbing knee and trying to crawl towards the door.

All at one time her window crashed open sending shards of glass flying everywhere, and Rachel was jerked up into a standing position by her hair. Finn's form crawling through the window, and his horrified expression registered just as she felt the cool blade of a knife pressed against her neck.

"Mr Schuester, you don't want to do this, please don't, I know you don't want to hurt her." Finn said quietly, putting his hands up in the air.

"It's too late now, I didn't want to hurt her, I never did, but she ruined everything. I've lost everything now! But if I go down, she's he's going down with me." He moved the knife from her neck to stoke her cheek with it, "you said it yourself, we're a team now."

Taking advantage of the shift in his knife, Rachel stomped down on his foot. The sharp pain in her cheek let her know that she had been cut, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. She flung herself towards Finn, falling at his feet as Mr. Schue tended to his foot. The distant sound of sirens could be heard, they just had to make it a little bit longer.

Turning over on her back she saw Mr. Schuester come charging at her again with his knife, but her view was blocked by Finn's body. Finn's loud roar rung in her ears as his fist drew back, then shot forward to connect with Mr. Schue's cheek. She watched as the smaller man fell to the floor, but he wasn't the only one.

Crawling over to where he boyfriend lay, she saw the reason. Mr. Schue had manged to get in his own shot, stabbing Finn in the side. Rachel pulled him into her arms, placing a hand over the wound in his side to help stop the bleeding as her door burst open.

"Police!"

* * *

**_Two Weeks Later_**

The New Directions' stalker story was the biggest news in town. The group didn't compete in Nationals, but Jesse, who was very pleased with all of the exposure, was placed as the interim director of the club, taking Will's place. Mr. Schuester may have gone crazy from desperation, and stress, but it turned out he wasn't completely heartless. He was cooperative with the police and revealed Blaine's whereabouts. He had been holding him in the old storage building that once held the classic car his ex wife had gotten for him. Blaine was retrieved and returned home with no injuries aside from mild dehydration.

It turned out that not telling the police about Blaine as soon as she found out wasn't a very good decision. But, since she did turn in the information, and help to bring in the culprit, she got off with just community service hours. She really didn't mind working though. She'd apologized to Blaine countless times about what had happened, and even though he said he didn't blame her, she couldn't help but blame herself. She felt so guilty about everything; not being able to compete, Blaine not being able to be in a dark room alone without freaking out, the stitches in Finn's side. Community service made her feel like she was beginning to make up for it somehow. It was actually kind of a relief. A few hours a day that she could shut the world out, release stress, and forget everything.

"Hey babe, how was work today?" Finn asked as Rachel climbed into his truck.

"Horrendous. You wouldn't believe the things that people just throw out at the Park. Honestly, when we have children they are never stepping foot in a public park. I hope we can afford our own monkey bars and slide."

Finn laughed at her, placing a hand on her thigh. Their relationship had changed a lot since what happened. She was upset that he had lied to her, but she could understand why he had done it. A few months ago she would have thrown a fit, probably broken up with him, and spent weeks in her bedroom eating ice cream and wondering why no one would ever love her. But Finn did love her, she didn't know anyone else that would literally put themselves in danger to protect her.

"Sure babe, whatever you want."

"Pfffft" she blew a gush of air between her lips, "these last few weeks have been too much, I just want to go run a hot bubble bath, put on some Barbara and relax" she said, leaning her head back against its rest.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember a good way to help you relax" he said, letting his hand roam a little higher on her thigh and giving it a little squeeze.

"I think you're right" she answered, placing her hand over his own with a beaming smile, "let's go home."

_**The End! Thank you all so much for sticking with me through this story, I can't express how much it means to me! I hope that I didn't disappoint you!** _


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